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Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Tuesday, February 13, 2018 - Lunch Program

Where Do We Go From Here?: The Future of Early American History

Daniel K. Richter

In the wake of the smash hit “Hamilton” and the trend of scholars to find new voices in the past, what stories are left to tell about the foundation of the United States? Daniel Richter, distinguished professor of American history at the University of Pennsylvania, will assess where historians should look in order to paint a more complete and inclusive portrait of early America.

Daniel K. Richter is the Richard S. Dunn Director of the McNeil Center for Early American Studies and Roy F. and Jeannette P. Nichols Professor of American History. He holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University, and his research and teaching focus on colonial North America and on Native American history before 1800. Prior to joining the Penn faculty, he taught at Dickinson College and the University of East Anglia, and he has been a visiting professor at Columbia University. He served as acting chair of Penn's History Department in 2013-2014. A prolific writer, Richter is currently researching English colonization during the Restoration era, for a book tentatively titled The Lords Proprietors: Feudal Dreams in English America, 1660-1689, under contract with Harvard University Press.

Tuesday, February 13, 2018 - Lunch Program

The California Comeback

John A. Pérez

John A. Pérez, the current vice-chair of the University of California Board of Regents and former elected member of California Assembly, will examine what California’s response to the Great Recession portends for higher education and California’s economic expansion.

John A. Pérez is the current vicechair of the University of California Board of Regents. He was elected to the California Assembly in November 2008, representing downtown Los Angeles and communities of East Los Angeles. In January 2010, his colleagues elected him California's 68th Assembly Speaker. He was subsequently reelected in 2010 and 2012, making him one of the longest serving Speakers in the era of term limits. Prior to his service in the Assembly, Pérez was a lifetime member of the labor movement.

Mr. Pérez's Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored by the Rose Institute of State and Local Government at CMC.

Tuesday, February 13, 2018 - Evening Program

Should the U.S. Try to Broker Israeli-Palestinian Peace—or Get Out of the Way?

Robert Malley P'20

A central U.S. foreign policy objective of the past several presidential administrations has been to broker a sustainable peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Yet, decades later, that goal seems as elusive as ever. Robert Malley P’20, who advised both President Clinton and President Obama on this issue and now serves as the CEO and president of the International Crisis Group, reflects on what went wrong, whether the U.S. can in fact be helpful, or whether at this point it would be best for to just get out of the way.

Robert Malley P'20 is CEO and president at the International Crisis Group based in Washington, D.C.

Malley has served in multiple capacities for two presidential administrations. He was the Special Assistant to the President, Senior Advisor to the President for the Counter-ISIL campaign, and White House Coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa and Gulf Region in 2015-2016; prior to that he was Senior Director for the Gulf Region and Syria. As the most senior White House official focused on the Middle East, he advised the President, Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, coordinated government-wide efforts to counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and was the lead White House negotiator for the Iran nuclear deal as well as for international talks on the Syrian civil war, including negotiations with the Russian Federation. He also oversaw the National Security Council staff's work on the broad range of Middle East issues, from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to relations with Gulf states. He earned the State Department's Distinguished Service Award in 2016.

Before joining the National Security Council staff in February 2014, Malley founded and directed the International Crisis Group’s Middle East and North Africa Program from January 2002. Prior to that, he was a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Until January 2001, Malley was special assistant to President Clinton for Arab-Israeli Affairs and director for Near East and South Asian Affairs at the National Security Council. In this capacity, he served as a principal advisor to the President and the National Security Advisor at the White House on the Middle East peace process.

Malley first joined the National Security Council staff in August 1994 as Director for Democracy. He helped coordinate U.S. refugee policy and efforts to promote democracy and human rights abroad. He also played a leading role in U.S. policy toward Cuba. In July 1997, he became Executive Assistant to the National Security Advisor from July 1997 to September 1998, acting as an informal chief of staff for Samuel R. Berger. Malley served as a law clerk to Justice Byron R. White of the United States Supreme Court in 1991-1992.

Malley is a graduate of Yale University, Harvard Law School, and Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He is the author of “The Call from Algeria: Third Worldism, Revolution and the Turn to Islam” and, with Hussein Agha, of several articles, including “Camp David: The Tragedy of Errors,” “The Last Negotiation”, “Three Men in a Boat” and “Hamas – The Perils of Power”, "The Arab Counter-Revolution." He has published articles in the New York Review of Books, Foreign Affairs, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Le Monde, and several other publications.

Mr. Malley's Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored by the President's Leadership Fund and the Jewish Studies Sequence at CMC.